8/8/201 Impact of the Orphan Spirit
I originally posted this on the blog July 2017 under the
title “Little Child Lost”. It was
designed to help us understand the orphan spirit which can affect many people. AS Christians, many people think that all our
troubles are behind us, but the battle is just beginning. It is a long presentation, so bear with me. As we confess our sin, Jesus is true to
forgive us that (those sins, 1 John
1:9-10). Satan tries t influence our
decisions – even after – especially after – our salvation experience. His job is to prevent us from growing in
Christ Jesus (1 Peter 5:8).
We are spiritual beings living in a physical body and the
nature of our spirit is determined by our relationship with our Heavenly Father
through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Every living creature has a spirit of ‘life’ (Gen. 2:7, 5397 Heb., neshamah – wind, vital breath, intellect), not eternal life but
that which gives us breath and animation (being able to move about), but
nonetheless what we call life.
One of two things can happen to us as we age, I didn’t say
mature, I said ‘age’, get older. We can
ask the Spirit of the living God to enter our hearts and become a viable part
of our lives. Or we can reject God’s
Spirit and try to make it on our own where we live out our lives living in our
own strength which, knowingly or
unknowingly, allows a demonic entity to take up residence within or at least
influence what we do. In either case,
the end will eventually lead to all sorts of havoc – promiscuity, violence,
despair, or more. All of which we have no control over because, just
like Adam when he yielded the earth to Satan with his disobedience to God, we
yield ourselves over the demonic forces by rejecting God.
One of two Spiritual realities will take control of our lives
– a demonic entity sent from Satan or the Holy Ghost imparted to us from God,
the Father through Jesus Christ. Either
way, we are not ‘our own’. We may
‘think’ we are in control for ‘we’ make our own decisions, right? But one spiritual source or the other will
and does influence the decisions we make in our lives. Just as the Holy Ghost suggests what we
should do, demonic entities can also suggest to us what to do. Who do we listen to?
Those who reject Jesus do become the devil’s playground. When the devil dangles those temptations, we
jump, to whatever enticement he has set before us – in our ‘own strength’. We have no counter balance operating in our
lives. But when an evil entity enters
into our hearts and takes up residence, our bodies, we, become controlled by
that spirit (John 8:42-45).
However, once we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and
Savior, the Holy Ghost now has input into our lives and we need to start listening
to Him and grow, filling our lives with God’s love. If we don’t, we may become stagnant. Stagnant means no Spiritual growth (1 Corinth 3:1-3, we need to get off the
milk and stop walking as men, Acts 8:9-24 [v21-22]). When we aren’t growing in the Holy Spirit, we
leave room for the enemy to taunt and tempt us.
We have to fill that emptiness from lack of growth or we fall back into
old habits (Luke 11:24-26). In not growing, we quench the Spirit by not
allowing Him to function in our lives as God intended (1 Thess. 5:19) and we grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30, 3076, lupeo, bring heaviness) when we refuse to
follow God’s guidance. And we ‘do our
own thing ’because we’re ‘saved’ and we have it all together, right? Yeah, right.
But we will find ourselves, once again, pursuing Satan’s darkness rather
than God’s light (Jesus) (1 Corinth.
2:6-16, knowing God by His Spirit). Even though we are saved by faith we keep
God’s laws (to truly love) as we love Jesus (John 15:1-11 abiding in the
vine), not because we ‘have to’ but because we ‘choose to’. We don’t get ‘saved by keeping the law, we
keep the law because we are saved. We have the hope of salvation, but once
‘saved’, we need the meat, not just the milk of the Word (Heb. 5:12-14) or we become stagnant staying ‘spiritual babies’
until Christ’s return, or worse, we may become complacent like the five foolish
virgins (Matt. 25:1-13) and fall
away. Read the passage! The five foolish virgins don’t enter in to
live with the bridegroom (the kingdom of God).
When we don’t accept Jesus, we leave ourselves open to any
outside influence, including uninvited entities coming into our hearts. You ask what does that mean? Look at the world around us. It has gone totally bananas! Aside from ‘terrorism’ people are killing
people Irregardless of race, creed or religion. There is theft, lawlessness, sexual
promiscuity and so on.
God does not force Himself upon us and when we reject Him, He
leaves us to our own devices and that means being open to any influences the
Evil One decides to inflict. If we’re
honest, the world’s a mess – a big mess.
And at the bottom of that mess are demonic entities under the guidance
of Satan himself (Rom. 1:22-25)
compounded by our refusal to follow God’s guidelines – of love (1 John 2:4).
Read the following scriptures, on your own, to get a little
better understanding of what the bible says about spiritual warfare. Now, there are more scriptures than these,
but this should give you an idea and you can always research further. Just remember to read the entire account.
Mark 5:1-13 “Legion”
Mark 1:39 “Casting
out devils in a region”
Luke 11:14 “The
‘dumb’ devil”
Acts 16:16-18 “Spirit
of divination and Paul”
Matt. 12:25-29 “Who
casts out devils, Satan or God?”
Matt. 8:16 “Cast
out spirits by His Word”
Luke 4:33-36 “Authority
over unclean spirits”
Mark 7:25-30 “The
Gentile woman’s daughter (scraps)”
Acts 19:13-16 “Sons
of Sceva”
Matt. 17:14-21 “Why
couldn’t we cast him out?”
I want you
to understand that there are opposing forces in this world. Oriental philosophy and other religions may
call it “ying and yang”, “light and dark”, “white and black” or some may even call
It the ‘ever present’ battle of “good versus evil” (“may the force be with
you”). Oh, wretched men are we (Rom. 7:14-25) for we spend a lifetime,
to some degree, in this battle. But, as
we draw closer to Jesus, Father makes these battles easier to deal with (Matt. 11:28-30) and more victorious (John 16:33, red letter – Jesus speaking).
Many
religions deny the existence of God or Satan but that doesn’t make it so. In fact, Satan thrives in the lives of those
who refuse to believe he exists. The
battlefield field is open to him for men don’t know that which they fight
against or even that they are fighting against something. For we wrestle against principalities,
powers, rulers of darkness (devils) and spiritual wickedness (Eph. 6:12). But the battle goes on as Satan continues to
try to undermine the things God does (Rev.
12:7-9).
Obviously
we’re dealing with spiritual warfare and we need to understand four phases or
areas which can impact Christians: possession, oppression, obsession and the
orphan, which may become the door through which the other areas enter in.
Possession
Webster’s
defines possession, or possessed as the act of having taken control or
occupancy or ownership, entered into, influenced and/or controlled firmly. Replacing one’s normal personality with
something else.
Oppression
Webster’s
defines oppression as cruel or unjust exercise of authority or power,
obstruction in body or mind.
Obsession
Webster’s
defines obsession as a persistent, preoccupation with an often unreasonable
idea, feeling or emotion.
The
Orphan
Webster’s
defines orphan as a child deprived of one or both parents
By these
definitions, note that each of these areas imply control and influence of one over
another by choice or otherwise. And this
control or influence impacts the mind, usually with the body then putting that
influence into practice.
We also have
to consider one more area.
Familiar
spirit
Webster’s
defines a familiar spirit as a spirit that prompts or serves and individual or
one that is summoned by a medium.
Frank Hammond defines it as an indwelling spirit
which has a relationship with a human (“Confronting Familiar Spirits”, Hammond).
Dr. Frank Hammond goes on to describe
the scenario where the familiar spirit is a ‘companion’ and can be summoned by
the one with whom it has the relationship.
We know that the Holy Ghost will teach us (John 14:26) and reveal things to us (1 Corinth. 2:10) and the familiar spirit can mimic this task to
some degree. Even Pharaoh’s magicians
could duplicate the first three plagues that befell Pharaoh, but then they
could duplicate them no more (Exodus
chptrs 7-12, note Exod. 8:18-19).
Wikkipedia’s
description says a familiar spirit might indwell an animal and speak to the one
with whom it has a relationship (medium).
Webster, Hammond and Wikki all
seem to imply that this spirit may have an impact on a person’s life without
actually, but not to exclude, indwelling (?) the individual.
Now, as we
consider these three descriptions of the ‘familiar, we see the implication that
the familiar spirit may have external influence. The orphan could qualify as a familiar spirit
for it influences, but does not indwell.
Nonetheless,
the orphan is a “look at ‘me’” spirit.
Aren’t ‘I’ something? Look at all
that ‘I’ can do or have done! It’s a
show off, yet an insecure show off. If
he had confidence, he wouldn’t need to proclaim himself.
Now, we’re
not going to find ‘orphan spirit’ in either Webster’s or the bible, as such, but
the bible does give us examples of the orphan in action, of which some are: King
Herod (Acts12:21-23), Simon the
sorcerer (Acts 8:9-21), King Ahab (1Kins 21:1-20). These men all made themselves to be more than
what they actually were.
The first
time I even heard the term “orphan spirit” was in 2011 or 2012 at a conference in
Philadelphia, in a class I attended titled “Orphan Spirit”. This was the
beginning of Father giving me an understanding on the orphan.
John 20:30 says “Truly, Jesus did many other
signs and wonders in the presence of His disciples which are not written in
this book” (John’s gospel) and in John
21:25 “And there are many other things that Jesus did that if every one
should be written down, the world could not contain all the books in which they
would be written,” So we see that Jesus
said and did a lot more that we don’t have ‘immediate’ access to (John 20:31). However, these passages from John do say we have
enough information to gain access into eternity, but we also realize that Jesus
told His disciples more than just what is recorded in the bible. So not everything is clearly spelled out in
scripture and we find, the Holy Ghost will reveal things to us (1 Corinth. 2:10). But, take note when things come through
revelation, it will always be consistent with God’s love and never contrary to
His Word (not man’s interpretation). And
the only way we know God’s consistency is to read the scriptures and understand
His Word for ourselves by allowing the Holy Ghost to teach us His Word. We study to show ourselves approved (2 Tim. 2:15) so we can know and abide
in His love (John 15:1-10).
The reason
the orphan is even mentioned here is that it can be a prelude the other conditions
mentioned: possession, oppression and obsession and even the familiar spirit,
It can open the door for them.
The orphan
spirit enters a person’s life via some sort of traumatic experience which challenges
our love need. Of course any demonic
activity in a person’s life could be the result of, but not limited to, cult or
occult involvement, as well. It doesn’t
matter how great or how small that experience may actually be but it is major
to the individual. It doesn’t matter how
old or how young the individual is. It
is an event in one’s life that the individual cannot or will not cope
with: loss of a parent or dearly loved
one, verbal or physical abuse, rape, witnessing extreme violence. , maybe even
‘simply’ just being left alone (abandoned) with no support system.
The orphan
might actually seem to be a help initially (Confronting Familiar Spirits) because
it appears to set up defense barriers to help us cope with the situation. These defenses might seem good, but they are
mechanisms totally devoid of God’s influence.
There is a
dual nature inside the individual – introvert and extrovert. Truly an introvert because of insecurities,
there has been no foundation for building self-confidence. There is ‘no’ or a ‘weak’ support system to
foster self-confidence so the orphan helps the introverted person to create ‘his
own’ protective shield of donficence – “Nobody loves me but I’m really OK”,
“It’s not my fault” etc. Yet, the
individual seeks and desires acceptance, attention and love and seeks to fill
that void in his heart, any way he can. Often
filling that void by ‘acting out in various ways, to get attention. The gloves come off as the as the orphan
reveals the extrovert personality, not one of confidence, but rather brash,
maybe even careless and overbearing in ways to attract attention. We may see them acting out (class clown or the
‘bad boy’ always in trouble), the bully, becoming promiscuous thinking that
‘love’ (sex) is the answer. Afraid to
ask for and receive proper attention but doing almost anything to get some kind
of attention, even to being destructive.
Getting attention? Yes, but not
communication, rather manipulation. The
orphan isn’t concerned with true relationships, just manipulating the situation
to get the desired attention.
Yet this
spirit is not an indwelling spirit, but oppressive, which could easily develop
into obsessive. The orphan works from
the outside, whispering into our ear what it wants us to do and because these
suggestions seem to ease the pain of the trauma, loneliness, no love, we listen
and do. This spirit can also produce
obsessive activity in our lives as we try to gain recognition. We may end up doing things compulsively and
we just can’t get it out of our minds and actions and reactions may even become
automatic in our lives. We do without
thinking.
As I said,
the orphan is a “look at me” spirit.
Good or bad, he is always trying to be the center of attention. He needs to be ‘built up” to prove that he’s
really OK. And when he doesn’t get it,
he’ll manufacture it internally. He has
to be OK. He has to be right. He has to be on top. It’s how he convinces himself that it’s never
him, but the rest of the world. But he’s
all right!
The orphan
may not be ‘the controlling spirit’ in a person’s life, but he most likely is
the one who opens the door for the spirit which becomes the ‘controller’ to
come in – and all his buddies. The
controller is usually the first spirit, demon, to actually indwell and becomes
the general for all those who follow (Pigs in the Parlor).
Because the
orphan is not an indwelling spirit, he can’t be cast out. Rather he has to be loved out. ‘No Room at the Inn’ (our spirits, hearts,
souls and minds) as we fill our lives with God’s love by our willful choice to
love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and spirit (Mark:12:30) and we demonstrate our allegiance to God by abiding in
Him (John 15:1-10, the vine). The orphan no longer has space or permission,
ergo no reason to operate in our lives because we are learning to live in God’s
will and in God’s love, which builds us in strength and confidence through
Jesus Christ (2 Corinth. 12:9, Phil.
4:13). He has no room at the inn in
which to stay.
As I said,
the orphan opens the door for other spirits to come in and that leads into oppression,
which could lead to or be joint with possession, either of which could team up
with obsession. But, unlike the orphan,
those indwelling demons can be cast
out (Pigs in the parlor).
Having finished “Pigs in the Parlor” and
rescanning “Confronting Familiar Spirits”, I’m still not completely clear on
what is the fine line between indwelling and external influence. In ‘Pigs in the Parlor’, Frank Hammond
describes that deliverance is for Christians, to cleanse us from anything not
of God. Dr. Hammond explains that we
understand this by distinguishing the difference between the spirit and soul.
Strong’s
gives us three Greek words which are closely related: Psyche, which is our emotions, intellect and will, animal sense or
feeling, soul (5590); Pneuma (4151) which is breeze, blast of
air, breath, spirit or rational, immortal soul, Holy Spirit (note caps), spirit,
ghost; and Zoe (2222) life
(animation).
Paraphrasing
what Frank Hammond explains from “Pigs in the Parlor”, pneuma, spirit,
is what enables us to grasp spiritual concepts.
Psyche is our natural or soulish self. Here, I’ll add zoe which is that which
gives our bodies breath, to live, animation.
Dr. Hammond points out that Paul says we are a three part being, body,
soul and spirit (1 Thess. 5:23).
Without
Jesus (salvation) our pneuma is essentially dead or at best, subject to our psyche,
but we do have psyche and zoe to carry us on, so we ‘live’. With salvation, pneuma is quickened and
brought to life with God’s indwelling Holy Spirit. Reading this material implies that demonic
spirits cannot enter pneuma but are confined to operating in the psyche, our
soulish self, which might explain why Paul declared “Oh, wretched man am I? Who shall deliver me from this body of death
(psyche & zoe)? I thank God through
Jesus Christ our Lord. With my mind (3563-intellect)
I serve the law of God but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” (Rom. 7:24-25). But ask yourself, ‘where are most spiritual
battles waged?’ I can speak for myself,
most are in my mind (psyche).
Now, hold
the fort. Mind equals psyche and we said
the Holy Ghost dwells in our pneuma. Paul
said he serves God with his ‘mind’. Understand,
our psyche follows something or someone.
We cannot serve God and mammon (Matt.
6:24), we love one and hate the other or hold on to one despise the
other. Realize what our spiritual growth
means: we come into alignment with
something or someone, God or Satan. Our
choice, because through the Holy Ghost filled pneuma we align ourselves with
the Father, by transforming and renewing our minds (psyche) to that which is
good, perfect and acceptable, the will of God (Rom. 12:2). So our psyche is
acting more and more like our Spirit filled pneuma. So when there is no Holy Ghost filled pneuma,
what is there?
So in
Romans, Paul wrestles with his own soul as he tries to draw it into God’s
will. What we also find, now, is the
possibility of our being influenced, possibly even possessed in our psyche
while our pneuma draws us forward in the strength of the Holy Ghost, into
complete alignment with Father as it contends with the rebellion of our psyche. Technically, psyche and pneuma are not
occupying the same space so to break any satanic influence, our psyche must
become aligned with our Holy Ghost filled pneuma. Ergo, Paul wrestles flesh against spirit.
Frank Hammond
tells us that unless a demon is cast out, he goes nowhere (Pigs in the Parlor)
and sometimes, unless it is called by name, it can still stay put! So, it
is conceivably possible that a Christian could retain some demons even through
the salvation experience – or even after by entertaining wrong thoughts (James 1:13-15). That might explain Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:1-20).
Even though
the orphan may have let his ‘buddies’ in to play and some may have been cast
out, there may yet be some ‘hangin’ in there’ that need to get the ‘boot’. Even after salvation, according to Dr.
Hammond.
We’ve seen
where the orphan can be loved out, no room at the inn, but the others will have
to be dealt with, cast out. Better get the book (Pigs in the Parlor) and
find out how. Not enough space here to
explain.
Of course,
everything starts with Jesus. We confront
the devils in His name, plead His blood against them and cover ourselves with
it. We also have to experience Christian
growth because once the demons have been kicked out, they can come back so we
fill that void with something (Matt.
12:43-45), like God’s Word, increasing our knowledge. Not just learning it, but living it. Put faith into action (James 2:17-20). We also need
to be walking in the power and authority of Jesus. Something the sons of Sceva weren’t
doing. Even though they commanded in the
name of Jesus, they didn’t have His authority seven of them got their
proverbial butts kicked by one demon possessed man (Acts 19:13-16). If we deal with spiritual entities, we have to be
spiritually clean. Put on the whole
armor of God (Eph. 6:11-18), which
works against demonic activity and in daily living.
We need to identify those areas of
our life which the orphan or any demonic spirit influences. Allowing God’s love fully into our hearts by
yielding those areas to Him (in Jesus’ name) then ID’ing all needful areas and
throwing out the garbage (casting out any demons) to assure all areas are clean.
We give those areas to God, through Jesus Christ and leave them with him
and apply all that He shows us into our own lives. And that means living in His true love. Acknowledging,
confessing, repenting our sins, when they occur, and setting them behind us (Isaiah 38:17). When I confess and repent my sins God is
faithful to forgive them (1 John 1:9)
as He has through the blood of Jesus (1
John 1:7). So when the enemy reminds
us of what ‘used to be’ we remind him that we have already given those areas to
God, we have victory in Jesus (Deut.
20:4, 1 Corinth. 10:13) and stand firm because God has given us His armor
to resist (Ephesians 6:13).
AMEN!(?)
